Stray black lab mix story.

We've had a black lab mix stray in the neighborhood for what seems like at least a couple of years. There has never been a problem with this dog getting into trash or bothering us when we walk our dogs. She has always kept her distance from anybody who gets remotely close to her.

Around Thanksgiving when we had a freeze, I looked out the kitchen window and saw her and felt badly for her so I opened a can of dog food and took it down to the sidewalk with a bowl of water and whistled to her. She perked up her ears and sat up and as I walked back up to the house she headed across the vacant field where she often sits, stopped at the curb and looked both ways before crossing and coming over to eat. After a car or two went by and startled her a little, she picked up the paper bowl and again looked both ways before taking it back across to the lot and up the little embankment to finish the remaining food.

Since that day, I look out in the mornings on weekends and when I get home on work days and if I see her I feed and water her. She won't get closer than about 50 feet or so to me, but I talk to her when I'm walking over to put out the food.

We have two dogs, both adopted from Arlington, TX Animal Services - Rockie http://www.nozero.org/friends.htm#Rockie and Zoe http://www.nozero.org/friends.htm#Zoe. Rockie was the most recent addition to our family and when we got him I got a follow up call from the volunteer at the shelter who use to walk him. Over time, we exchanged a few calls and emails and became friendly. Once while we were at the vet, a lady was there and just by listening to her, I thought it may be her so I asked and it was. She turned around and loved on Rocky and we introduced ourselves in person for the first time. Since she lives not far from me quite often takes in strays, I decided to ask if she was familiar with this dog. She said she was and that she had set up a kennel with a tarp about a block away in the other direction, but had not seen the dog since last May and thought she had died. She was very glad to hear about her and when I mentioned the gray snout and chin, she was certain it was the same dog. She (Dianne) said she and her husband had nicknamed the dog Oprah.

Apparently, Oprah has been evading capture by Arlington Animal Services for quite some time now. Dianne asked if there was a place on the empty lot to put the kennel so Oprah would have a place to go out of the rain and wind. At one time the lot had a double-wide trailer on it that housed a Church/Day Care facility and I guess it went belly up since they closed down and eventually the trailer was towed away. Now there is a sign up for another church and based on the images on the sign it will be another trailer type set up. Since I don't know when they will be starting construction and since the lot is frequented by kids from the junior high school about a block away, I suggested that we put the kennel in our front yard or maybe on the front porch. I'm waiting for Dianne to call me to work out the details. I'd love to gain this dogs trust and adopt her, but since about a year ago when we had an incident with a neighbor's dog breaking it's tether and attacking Zoe. Rockie promptly put a end to the attack by engulfing the offending dogs head in his mouth. Rockie has since become very dog aggressive toward all dogs other than Zoe. We did eventually get the dog loose from Rockies jaws and the little fart bit me in the process. He had a couple of bite marks, but he was not badly injured.

I fed and watered Oprah this morning and am now waiting to hear from Dianne on the Kennel/tarp. It's 32 degrees outside right now and raining on and off. While it's not yet freezing on the street, we've got little icicles hanging on the tree branches in the front yard. I'm hoping Oprah is someplace dry if not warm and dry...

Thanks for reading and sorry for my verbosity, but one thing led to another and so on... Any kind thoughts you can send Oprah's way would be deeply appreciated.